In recent years, for the purpose of health promotion and figure improvement, an idea has become popular which is the idea of reducing tension of muscles which leads to stiff shoulders and the like by improving postures such as stooping by straightening up the back and keeping a bodily state in a standing position vertical to stick out the chest. Functional clothing has been marketed, the wearing of which provides the state where the chest is stuck out by straightening up the back and keeping a bodily state in a standing position vertical. Such functional clothing is capable of applying a different load depending on the body site, for example, drawing left and right scapulae to the rear central part of a human body by utilizing a stretching stress of a material.
As such functional clothing, for example, those which have an upper body part, use a tight-fit knitted/woven fabric, and are designed to guide the posture of a wearer to a proper state are known. In particular, those which apply a different load depending on the body site by using materials having a different elongation are known. The functional clothing is intended to provide good posture in appearance by facilitating straightening up of the back using a stretching stress of a clothing material, and materials having a high stretching stress have been used to increase such an effect.
Thus, many of the functional clothing on the market tighten up and apply firm pressure when worn. They are suitable for short-time use, for example, wearing only during sports activities, and are poor in comfort during long-time use. In addition, tightening of the clothing affects the ease of putting on and taking off, placing a burden on wearers such as being caught midway in putting on and taking off.
Examples of disclosed techniques relating to functional clothing include varying strength from site to site by using a combination of materials having a different stretching stress and disposing the material having a high stretching stress at a region from superior angle of scapula to angulus inferior (Japanese Patent No. 4431616 and JP 2006-161207 A), varying strength from site to site by using a difference between lengthwise and crosswise loads for stretching caused by changing the cutting direction of a fabric (JP 2001-164401 A), varying strength from site to site by laminating a strain material on a main fabric (JP 2010-095803 A), and varying strength from site to site by using same fabrics with a different texture (JP 2007-138335 A).
However, in the techniques of JP '616, JP '803 and JP '207 wherein a combination of different materials is used to vary strength from site to site, it is necessary to use at least two different materials, a strain material and a main material and, since there is a limitation on the combination of materials that can be used, various materials cannot be used freely. In other words, the variety of materials is narrow. In addition, since it is necessary to use two different materials, the productivity is poor.
In the technique of JP '401 wherein the cutting direction is changed, diagonal cutting such as bias cutting increases the amount of fabric used, i.e., the necessary length of fabric, leading to poor productivity. In addition, a difference in the rate of measurement change after washing due to the cutting direction can occur in the same direction of a clothing, resulting in deformation and the like.
In the technique of JP '335 wherein same fabrics with a different texture are used, it is necessary to knit a clothing on a one-by-one basis because the texture is partly varied by changing the knit, and thus this technique is suited for low-volume manufacturing and poor in productivity.
As described above, none of the conventional functional clothing can provide sufficient performance in variety, productivity, and wearing comfort of the material.